Nikko Cordial Corp., Japan's third-largest securities firm, said Friday its group net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2003 soared more than three-fold, thanks to a jump in sales of foreign bonds.
Smaller brokerages also announced upbeat business results Friday for the April-June period.
The influence of the recent stock market rally was relatively small, however, underscoring intensified competition with online brokerages for commission fees, along with moves by securities firms that do not operate online to diversify their revenue sources.